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Thread: Beekeeping

  1. #1

    Beekeeping

    My husband and I are tossing around the idea of beekeeping. Just curious to see if there are any beekeeper's out there who can share a little on their experiences?

  2. #2
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    US
    Posts
    78
    I've never done it but I have honey bees that we are trying to get rid of. Why would you want to do this? Is it going to help you financially? I'm curious to know why people want to keep these bees around? I can't find many people who are willing to take ours.

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Posts
    109
    I haven't done it before but my dad just got a hive and is going to try it. I am looking forward to being able to get some beeswax in a few years to make candles with and I love honey in my tea so that will be nice as well.

  4. #4
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    7
    I would love to find someone willing to give there bees away... I want to get a couple of hives but have not been able to as of yet.....

  5. #5
    Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Priest River, ID
    Posts
    90
    I have been beekeeping for about 7 years now. i normally have only 2-4 hives. It is kind of struggle for me. I live in NoID and the winters are too long. It is a problem to keep the bees alive thru the winter. Often they get dicease, such as nossema. This year, one of the bigger beekeepers promised me to take my two hives to California during the winter, he get paid for pollination and maybe I get my bees alive after the winter. It is a fine hobby but not easy. It would be hard to do as business.

  6. #6
    I've never done it but I have honey bees that we are trying to get rid of. Why would you want to do this? Is it going to help you financially? I'm curious to know why people want to keep these bees around? I can't find many people who are willing to take ours.
    I used to feel the same way, but then I learned that bees are vital to pollinating our gardens and flowers. I also learned that they have been dying in large numbers for no apparent reason. After learning that, I became interested in possibly getting a hive.

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Posts
    2,098
    When I was about 12 years old, I had to help my dad cut down and split a hollow tree to get the bees from the tree into a hive he had bought. That was our first hive, then he bought 6 more hives from someone. I had no choice but to help him work bees and we never used any of the bee suits and such that you see now. I actually only got stung pretty rarely, but I decided many years ago that I would not eat any honey if I had to take it away from a bee again. I don't know now many of you are old enough to remember when Sears Roebuck sold honey bees. I worked in the Dallas Post Office 1959 to 1964 and it wasn't unusual for our parcel post to include square cardboard boxes with large diamond shaped holes cut in the sides for ventilation and of course the holes were covered with a screen and they were honey bees being shipped to buyers from Sears.

  8. #8
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Posts
    6
    From what I understand it's fairly low maintenance. Other than collecting honey once a year you'll have to go in and get your queen and move her to a new hive for the others to follow. Otherwise they will swarm off on there own to a new location and you'll have to go get em. You accomplish this by marking her when you get her. I don't have any yet but read a book on it and plan to get hive or two going on my country place when ive a house out there.

  9. #9
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    manitoulin island, ontario, canada
    Posts
    4
    Its a little more complicated than that, you have to monitor your hives for health, queen performance and health, varroa mites, hive beetle in the states and S. ontario, and lastly make sure they have a room to expand and store there honey, or they will swarm, a good book for newbees or wannabees is "beekeeping for dummies", another path to take is join your local bee club, befriend a beekeeper, (we all love to talk) i learned a lot more from other beekeepers than I did from the fancy University course, (2 day), beekeeping is an enjoyable hobby, and after a while they bring in enough to pay for themselves, plus all the honey you need.
    15 hives, N ontario, nuc and queen producer, 10 year beekeeper, and still learning.

  10. #10
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    4
    I ran a warre system, which is minimal disturbance. The bear did not realize we only open up the hives twice a year and destroyed all three of my hives.
    If your looking for a very simple, easy to build system, google warre bee hives. Bio bees.com are a great site so is beesource.com

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